


Bursts of Stardust

by Redrikki



Series: Bursts of Stardust [1]
Category: Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Canonical Character Death, Colonialism, F/M, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Handmaidens, Harm to Children, Implied Childhood Sexual Abuse, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Memory Loss, Mind Control, Nightmares, Pregnancy, Robots, Skywalker Family Drama, Skywalker Family Feels, Slavery, The Force
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-23
Updated: 2017-12-07
Packaged: 2018-11-17 14:25:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 53
Words: 13,835
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11277117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Redrikki/pseuds/Redrikki
Summary: A collection of short Star Wars fic based on tumblr prompts in 2017. SeeBursts of Stardust IIfor more.Updated for chapter 53 - Shmi passes on her dreams.





	1. Take a moment to be selfish

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Padmé decides to be selfish for once.

“Marry me.”

“What?” Anakin frowned in what she hoped was confusion rather than denial.

“Marry. Me.” Padmé carefully enunciated each word so there was no mistaking her meaning.

“But” –Anakin’s mouth gaped, making him look like a rather adorably bewildered fish– “but you said–“

Padmé silenced him, pressing her finger to his lips. “I know what I said, and I know what I want.” She switched out her finger for her lips and was pleased when Anakin enthusiastically kissed her back. All her life had been lived in service to others. Her sister, her friends, all got to find love, start families, but Padmé had always denied herself. She had nearly died three times in the last week. She was done waiting to get what she wanted.

“I’ll have to leave the Jedi,” he said when they finally came up for air. There was a strange look in his eyes and Padmé couldn’t tell if he was excited at the idea or terrified.

“That can wait until after the war. _We_ can’t.” She wouldn’t pull him from his duty, she wasn’t that selfish. “You could die, Anakin. I’d rather be your widow, even in secret, then have no claim on you at all.”

He never said yes, but Padmé supposed the passion of his kiss was answer enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Original prompt and post found [here](http://redrikki.tumblr.com/post/162087777939/prompt-padme-decides-to-be-selfish-for-once).


	2. First Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anakin's first day at the temple is Obi-Wan's logistical nightmare.

Normally, new Jedi recruits were assigned a bed in the creche while new Jedi padawans were assigned their own quarters. Anakin was assigned neither.

“The duty of the master, these arrangements are,” Yoda said when Obi-Wan tracked him down to explain the problem.

“I haven’t been given the knight authorization codes.” They had done all the appropriate ceremonies on Naboo, but apparently the Council had failed to file the necessary forms.

“An oversight,” Yoda assured him. There was a strange, almost gleeful, twinkle to his eyes. If Obi-Wan didn’t know better, he would have thought Yoda had delayed on purpose, but no. It would take a far pettier being than Master Yoda to deliberately deny a child a bed just because he’d hadn’t gotten his way.

“Hmmm, much work to be done, mentoring this boy,” Yoda said. “A medical examination he will need, and other tests as well. Can he even read?”

Obi-Wan spent the better part of the next two hours running around the temple, trying and failing to arrange any of that without the proper authorization codes. He returned to his tiny quarters, frustrated and exhausted, to find Anakin waiting right where he’d left him. “I couldn’t get you a room,” Obi-Wan said, sinking down onto his bed. It was just barely big enough for him and he wasn’t looking forward to sharing.

“It’s alright, Master, I can sleep on the floor,” Anakin said. “I don’t want to be any trouble.”

Too late for that, Obi-Wan thought and wished Qui-Gon had never made him promise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Original post can be found [ here](http://redrikki.tumblr.com/post/162163125339/anakins-first-day-in-the-jedi-temple).


	3. Loud

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anakin listens to the Force.

The Jedi said the Force was a gentle whisper, but for Anakin it was deafening. It was the groaning tectonics of a million worlds, the crackling fires of a billion stars, and a galaxy of voices all calling, crying, screaming for his attention. Too much, too much.

Anakin wrenched his mind clear of the cacophony and slammed back into his body. He leapt to his feet, his heart racing.

“Honestly, Anakin.” Obi-Wan sighed, utterly exasperated. “You’ll never be able to hear the Force if you don’t learn to sit and listen.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Original post [here](http://redrikki.tumblr.com/post/160064575694/13-please).


	4. Stepford Smile

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How do you solve a problem like Anakin Skywalker? Mind control, apparently.

“We can’t seriously mean to do this,” Master Depa said. It was, Obi-Wan had to admit, an unsettling prospect. It was one thing to mind trick the obstinate, quite another to erase their memories.

Mace frowned at his former padawan’s objection. “To win this war, we will need every available resource. If Skywalker truly is the Chosen One—”

“Then allow him to fall into this woman’s hands, we can not,” Master Yoda concluded, striking the floor with his glimmer stick for added punctuation.

This woman. Padmé kriffing Amidala, a woman who Obi-Wan had once thought of as, if not a friend, than certainly a pleasant acquaintance, yet suddenly hated with the same intensity he’d once felt for Qui-Gon’s killer. Whatever they decided today, she would have stolen his padawan. Either they allowed him to leave, in which case Anakin was lost to Obi-Wan and the order, or they voted for the Cure and it was just Obi-Wan who would be bereft. Over ten years of shared memories gone in an instant.

“Decide, we must, what is best for the Order _and_ for young Skywalker.” Yoda looked directly at him for the last bit and Obi-Wan turned away, ashamed of the depth of his attachment.

He thought of Anakin as he was now, unhappy and unsure, and how he could be, finally confidence in himself and his purpose. Was he really so selfish to sacrifice the Anakin Obi-Wan always knew he could be just to keep hold of the one he had now? They went around the room. Masters Depa and Plo voted no. Obi-Wan voted yes. The ayes had it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Original post [here](http://redrikki.tumblr.com/post/162221223409/prompt-stepford-smiler-anakin-the-jedi-council).


	5. Stepford Smile II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the events of the previous chapter, Padmé is understandably pissed.

Padmé was still trembling with barely suppressed rage when she reached the chancellor’s office. “I’m sorry to bother you, Chancellor, but it’s an emergency.”

“No trouble at all, my dear.” He ushered her to a seat beside the desk before taking his own. “What seems to be the problem?”

Padmé took a bracing breath and came out with it. “I’m married.”

“Congratulations,” Chancellor Palpatine said, looking confused as to why, exactly, that was a problem. “And who is the lucky fellow?”

“Anakin Skywalker.”

“I see.” He made a tent of his hands and pressed them to his lips, obscuring his expression. Anakin and the chancellor were so close. Was he pleased? Angry? Disappointed? Padmé’s stomach clenched as she tried to guess. When he finally lowered his hands after a long moment, his face was almost heroically bland. “I can’t imagine the Jedi were pleased.”

“They wiped his mind!”

“What?” he asked flatly, his expression utterly blank.

Unable to contain it any longer, Padmé flung herself from her chair and began to pace. “I hadn’t seen him for a few weeks. That’s normal, with the war, but when I saw he today, he didn’t know me. He barely seemed to know himself! When I confronted Master Kenobi, he confessed they had erased his memory to keep him from me.”

Chancellor Palpatine had risen as she talked, now he leaned heavily against the desk as if in shock. “That’s—” He shook his head, his lips twitching.

“It’s monstrous! It’s like he’s their slave, only worse. At least slaves are allowed to keep their memories.” She was ranting, but she didn’t care. Padmé wanted to storm over to the Temple, guns blazing, and take back her husband. No, more than that, she wanted them to pay. “They can’t get away with this. I won’t _let_ them get away with this.” She rounded on the Chancellor. “Will you help?”

“My dear,” he said, his predatory smile looking strangely at home on his normally genial face, “it would be my pleasure.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Original prompt and post can be found [here](http://redrikki.tumblr.com/post/162236671949/prompt-padme-and-anakins-marriage-comes-out-and)


	6. Learn Your Place

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shmi and Anakin's life in slavery.

She tried to be as gentle as possible, but Anakin still winced as Shmi smeared the salve over the welts on her son’s back. He trembled with the effort to hold back his tears and it broke Shmi’s heart.

Watto is a good master, she reminded herself. Yes, he sometimes gambled or drank their food money, but he was never needlessly cruel like Gardulla. He wouldn’t hurt them without a good reason. Anakin’s refusal to sell broken equipment had cost Watto money.

Anakin began to quietly cry. “I was only trying to help.”

Her dear, sweet boy, of course he was. “Oh, Anakin, you must learn your place,” she said, and wished with all her heart that she didn’t have to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Original post can be found [here](http://redrikki.tumblr.com/post/161833891604/ask-prompt-learn-your-place-anakin).


	7. I Can't Do This

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anakin and Obi-Wan have a falling out.

Anakin’s pacing was getting on Obi-Wan’s nerves. For years, he had tried to break the boy of the habit, but he was forever in motion despite. Always fidgeting, always tinkering, always pacing. Why could he never just be still? 

“Anakin, you do understand why this must be kept secret.” Clearly he didn’t, but Obi-Wan had found that phrasing things as commands rather than questions was more likely to produce results.

“They were commissioned by the Sith, Master!” They have control chips in their heads. Who knows what they’ve been programed with?”

All worrying facts, to be true, compounded by the Council’s inability to foresee any of it. “And if the news got out, it could be disastrous for the Jedi.”

Anakin stared at him incredulously. “For the Jedi? Tup shot someone. If another clone does it again and people found out that we knew–”

“All the more reason to keep quiet.” 

“No.” Anakin shook his head. “I can’t do this. I won’t.” He resumed pacing. “We need to tell someone. The Chancellor. The Senate. The clones even.”

“Anakin!” Obi-Wan said sharply, freezing the younger man mid-pace. “If you defy the Council in this, I will not protect you,” he said to Anakin’s back.

For a split second, Anakin sagged and Obi-Wan thought he’d won. Then he straightened with all the swiftness and burning determination of a lightsaber igniting. “I never thought you would,” he said without turning around and left.

 _Anakin never thought he would._ Obi-Wan had worked so hard to hide his attachments, he supposed he aught to have been pleased at the results. Instead he just felt cold.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt by [@thewillowbends](thewillowbends.tumblr.com). Original post can be found [here](http://redrikki.tumblr.com/post/161790506749/i-cant-do-this-anakin-walks-away-from-the).


	8. Don't Be An Ass

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Something terrible happens to Anakin and Sidious plays it to full advantage. Warning for mentions of child sexual abuse.

“We should tell Obi-Wan.”

“Don’t be an ass,” Sidious snapped. The boy gave him such a wounded look it was all he could do not to roll his eyes. “I know you’re smarter than that, dear boy,” he said, more gently this time. “How would Obi-Wan react if he knew you let Senator Sleen touch you like that?”

Anakin wilted, curling in on himself. “He’d be upset,” he whispered.

Sidious laid his hands on the boy’s shoulders, pushing down just a bit in response to his finch. “That’s right. That’s why you have to be the one to get the tape from the senator.” He leaned in so close his lips brushed against the shell of Anakin’s ear. The boy’s instinctive shiver was positively delightful. “Once you do, this can all just be our little secret.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt by [@klorophile](klorophile.tumblr.com). Original story [here](http://redrikki.tumblr.com/post/161794813589/for-the-prompts-ask-can-i-request-dont-be-an) with additional notes about how I imagined they got to this place [here](http://redrikki.tumblr.com/post/161813270194/can-you-talk-more-about-the-dont-be-an-ass-fic)


	9. Blackmail

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Someone tries to blackmail Padmé.

_I could shoot him._ The thought darts across her mind like a bird. Not that Padmé actually would murder someone to keep her secrets, but the idea is there now, circling, round and round. He’s a lowlife criminal no one would miss and she’s a senator. She wouldn’t even be lying if she said he threatened her. She could shoot him.

Something of her thoughts must show on her face. “Don’t get any ideas, missy,.” he says with the self-satisfied grin of a sabbac player who knows he’s holding all the cards. “Anything happens to me, and my partner goes public.”

“I see,” Padmé says as politely as possible as her hands curl into fists. Aggressive negotiations are out, but she still has options. “And what, exactly, is it that you want?”

“I want you to announce your support of the Prisoner Labor Act before this afternoon’s vote.”

As if she would ever support that travesty of a law. Yes, the care and feeding of prisoners cost money the Republic could scarcely afford, but to use them slave labor? Padmé raised her chin in defiance. “And if I refuse?”

That sabbac-player smirk was back and it was all Padme could do not to smack it off his face. “Then I go public and your secret husband says goodbye to being a Jedi.”

When the chancellor called for final remarks before the debate, Padmé rose slowly to her feet. She took a deep breath and hoped Anakin would forgive her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The original post is [here](http://redrikki.tumblr.com/post/162017547374/prompt-someone-tries-to-blackmail-padme-amidala) with some [additional discussion](http://redrikki.tumblr.com/post/162018142789/grand-duc-replied-to-my-prompt-fic-blackmail).


	10. Falling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dooku can't tell if he's rising or headed for a fall.

“Falling,” Sidious says with a faint sneer. “Such a quaint turn of phrase. Implying, of course, that Jedi are so much more _elevated_ than the rest of us.”

That is the problem, isn’t it, Dooku thinks. The Jedi are forever looking down from their tower and their supposed moral high ground on the teeming masses below. They say height gives one perspective, but it is this lowly Sith who sees most clearly. Dooku nods slowly.He can’t tell if he is rising or headed for a fall.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt by @liveandletrain. Original post [here](http://redrikki.tumblr.com/post/160057803714/9)


	11. Padmé's Daughter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Obi-Wan watches over Padmé's daughter not Anakin's son.

It was easier, Obi-Wan thought, to have watch over the girl. Not that she didn’t get herself into trouble. Quite the contrary. Hardly a week could go by without her picking a fight with someone twice her size. Once Obi-Wan had had to rescue her when she tried to stop Jabba’s men from collecting their water tax, but he rarely needed to step in. Leia had all her mother’s righteousness and her blaster skills and solid right hook to back it up.

And that, as much as anything, was why she was infinitely preferable to her blue-eyed brother. With her brown eyes and brown hair, she was entirely Padmé’s daughter without a hint of Anakin. She had a temper, but it was Padmé’s temper. Her anger would liberate planets, not slaughter a room full of children, and she was sure to grow out if it with proper training. She truly was the Chosen One in the way her father had never been. When the Lars finally let him train her, Obi-Wan would be able to look at Leia without being haunted by the ghost of Anakin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Original post [here](http://redrikki.tumblr.com/post/162473317619/suppose-the-organas-had-wanted-a-boy).


	12. No Pity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ahsoka runs into a Jedi after leaving the Order.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Original prompt was "I don’t want your pity, I want your absence" given by [thewillowbends.](thewillowbends.tumblr.com)

She was so unexpected, Ahsoka nearly didn’t recognize her. The lower levels of Coruscant was the last place she’d expect to find a Jedi like Master Luminara. Maybe she was there to see Ahsoka. “Master,” she called out.

“Oh, it’s you,” Master Luminara said flatly. She looked terrible. There were dark circles under her eyes and the planes of her face had been shaved sharp by exhaustion. She still had her place among the Jedi but clearly Barriss’s betrayal had hurt her too.

“Are…are you alright?” Ahsoka asked hesitantly. 

Luminara’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t want your pity, merely your absence.” 

The dismissal felt like a slap in the face. Ahsoka knew some Jedi might see her refusing to rejoin the Order as selfishness, but it hurt more than expected coming from someone like Master Luminara.

“Wait,” Luminara called as Ahsoka turned to go. “Did you know?”

Ahsoka hesitated, biting her lip. “I knew she was troubled by the Jedi’s role in the war. We talked about it after Geonosis.” Looking back, it was clear that something had been wrong with Barriss for a while. She’d been too accepting of her own death back at the weapons factory and, when Ashoka refused to killer her back on the ship, she’d been more resigned than grateful. “I just never thought she’d hurt someone else.”

Luminara sighed. “Then you saw more than I.”

Ahsoka wanted to tell her that it wasn’t her fault, that she had done all she could to help her struggling padawan. Then she remembered the jealously on Barriss’s face when Anakin hugged her. She couldn’t give Master Luminara a lie, no matter how comforting, so she turned and gave her absence instead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Original post is [here](http://redrikki.tumblr.com/post/162509889244/these-all-sound-like-legit-convos-between-obi-wan).


	13. Last Mistake

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The mistake will be Sidious's last.

The encounter with young Skywalker proved…disappointing. Sidious had had such hopes for him. He was so like his father at that age. So powerful, so angry, and with such a hole inside. He would have been the perfect replacement for his twisted wreck of a father, but alas. It seemed the boy would rather die a Jedi then serve as his apprentice. How very like his mother.

It seemed he would have to continue to make due with the original Skywalker, at least until he tracked down this mysterious sister. Sidious could feel the pain and horror radiating from Vader. He had thought that Amidala’s death had destroyed what little will the man possessed, but, since the boy’s appearance on the Death Star, Vader had become troublingly ambitious. As wasteful as the boy’s death was, killing him should finally break his father.

Sidious continued to blast the boy. He didn’t sense Vader’s, no _Anakin’s_ , resolve until it was too late.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Original post [here](http://redrikki.tumblr.com/post/162014544569/hmmm-prompts-palpatine-makes-a-horrible-mistake) with a lot more spelling errors.


	14. Disrobe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Obi-Wan loses, or rather, misplaces another cloak.

“You lost your cloak again,” Anakin helpfully pointed out after the fighting.

“I didn’t lose it,” Obi-Wan insisted, “I simply misplaced it.” Or shed it dramatically at any rate. A good portion of a Jedi’s power came, not from the Force, but from sheer shock and awe. There was nothing that set the tone quite like a good disrobe.

“Oh, there it is.” Anakin scampered off to collect it from where it lay crumpled in the door way.

Obi-Wan accepted it with a faint air of distaste. There was nothing wrong with it. It hadn’t even gotten dirty in all the fighting. It was just that putting it back on felt a bit too much like a snake worming back into its old skin or a butterfly returning to a cocoon. Still, it wasn’t like he could just leave it here now that Anakin had recovered it, not after the blistering lecture Obi-Wan had received from the Temple quartermaster after the last time he’d lost, er, _misplaced_ his cloak.

“Thank you, Anakin,” he said, and settled for draping it over his arm.

“Have you ever though of just” –Anakin shrugged– “not wearing a cloak?”

What a horrible idea! “Oh, my young padawan, I have much to teach you.” Like the vital role of a cloak when making a suitably dramatic entrance for a start.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt by [here](grand-duc.tumblr.com>grand-duc</a>.%20Original%20post%20can%20be%20found%20<a%20href=).


	15. Who Isn't Afraid?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Padmé and Anakin gossip about Satine and Obi-Wan.

They were like a real married couple; Padmé, brushing her hair on the edge of the bed, and Anakin, changing out of his uniform while talking about work. Or, in this case, sharing some truly scandalous gossip about Obi-Wan and the Duchess of Mandalore. “They were on the run together for a year,” he said, tugging his boots off, “a whole year, and they never once talked about how they felt about each other.” He shook his head. “Can you believe it?”

“Yes,” Padmé said simply. “How can anyone not be afraid of love?”

“I’m not.” Anakin rose from his chair, chin up, shoulders back, and barefoot. Of course he wasn’t afraid, the bold little boy who asked if she was an angel. On the holonet, they called him the Hero With No Fear, but they had no idea. Anakin was scared all the time. He worried constantly about the people he cared for, but he never hesitated to love them with all his heart.

“I was,” Padmé confessed with a self-deprecating little chuckle as she set her brush down on the nightstand. “Why do you think it took me so long?”   
“I’m a Jedi, you’re a senator. Real world, blah, blah,” Anakin summed up the argument she’d made back at Varykino as he peeled off his tunic. He folded it in half and draped it over the back of the chair.

Padmé flushed. It sounded so stupid when he said it like that. If she was being honest with herself, it had sounded pretty stupid back then too. “I was afraid. Love is like this big wave. It can lift you up or smash you on the rocks and you have no control ether way.” She’d been tossed about by romance before. If they hadn’t been about to die, Padmé didn’t know if she would have found the courage to take the plunge with Anakin. “And, if the other person reciprocates?” She shook her head. “Well then there’s no getting out.” For someone as tightly wound as Obi-Wan, the prospect must have been intolerable. Better to ignore the water than chance to drown. 

“Do you--“ Anakin sank down beside her, looking searchingly at her face, and then hurriedly away. He took a deep, shaky breath. “Padmé, do you ever regret--“  
“No! No for a second,” she said, and kissed his doubt away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt by [here](maxpowersimpsonskywalkerspock.tumblr.com>maxpowersimpsonskywalkerspock</a>.%20Original%20post%20<a%20href=).


	16. Uses of Anger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Palpatine and Anakin consider the usefulness of anger.

“Goodness, my boy,” Sidious interrupted mid-rant. As important as the boy was to his plans, it did grow tiresome listening to so-called thoughts on the galaxy’s various injustices. This week he was on about indentured servitude in the expansion region and Sidious had heard quite enough. “You’re too young to hate the world.” 

Anakin jerked his head up, startled. “I don’t—Jedi don’t hate anything.”

“Well, you don’t sound like a very good Jedi then.” Sidious savored Anakin’s delightful little flinch. “Still,” he aded with an affected sigh, “anger does have it’s uses.” 

“Anger is the path to the Dark Side,” Anakin parroted dutifully.

Someday, Sidious feared he would injure himself swallowing a derisive snort or choking on malicious laughter. “I defer to the wisdom of the Jedi in such matters,” he said, justifiably proud of his straight face, “but consider Queen Amidala.”

“What do you mean?”

“Why, just that she could not have re-taken Naboo and freed her people if she hand’t first gotten angry.”

“Oh.” Anakin chewed his lip, considering. “Do you think the Senate might do something about the indentured servants if we made them angry enough?”

They’d certainly be angry at whomever denied them indentured labor. Still, the idea could be useful, especially if Sidious could find the right patsy to propose a measure. Someone troublesome, but naively upstanding. Bail Organa, maybe. A slow smile oozed across his face. “What a good idea, my boy.” He clapped Anakin on the shoulder and watched him glow with happiness and pride. “I shall have to see what I can do.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt by [here](anakinbun.tumblr.com>anakinbun</a>.%20Original%20post%20<a%20href=).


	17. Disposable

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yoda and Plo discuss the clones.

There was something bothering Master Plo Koon. The Kel Dor’s mask hid his expression, but Yoda sensed the turbulence in the Force around him. He listened attentively throughout the Council meeting, but the tension in the normally jovial master’s shoulders was clear. Something would have to be done.

“Troubled you are,” Yoda said, falling in beside Plo as they left the Council Chamber.

Plo paused, considering. “Yes, I suppose I am.”

“Come. Discuss this we will,” Yoda said and led him to his sitting room. They took the scenic route down crowded hallways and through the Room of a Thousand Fountains where a class of younglings were practicing their meditation. They filled the Force with their calm and the tension began to melt from Plo’s shoulders. Even in these troubling times, it was impossible, Yoda found, to be anything but at peace amidst such pleasant and orderly life.

Arriving at the siting room, Yoda waited until they were both comfortably settled on their tuffetts before gesturing for Plo to begin. “Following the destruction of my ship, one of my clones said something disturbing.” He hesitated. Yoda raised an eyebrow, willing him to continue. “He said, ‘we were designed to be disposable.’ It has been troubling me.”

“Ah, yes.” Yoda nodded. “Something similar, another clone said to me. Troubling it is, that they should think this when sacred all lives are.”

“Sacred, yes. And yet all of us would have been left for dead if young Skywalker and Ahsoka had not defied orders to rescue us.”

He was not, Yoda knew, looking for excuses. As a member of the Council, Plo knew that the loss of a Jedi or a handful of clones or even a ship-full of them were necessary sacrifices in the name of the greater good. “In service to the Republic, expendable all lives are.”

“Yes, but not to them.”

“Yes,” Yoda said, frowning. Skywalker’s sense of personal loyalty was unfortunate, more so for having infected his padawan. This time it had proven useful, saving Master Plo and earning them some valuable intelligence, but next time? Care for others was a difficult habit to break. The situation would require watching, possibly even action,

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt by [eyeloch](eyeloch.tumblr.com). Original post can be found [here](http://redrikki.tumblr.com/post/162707816509/yoda-jedi-of-your-choice-for-4-were-designed).


	18. Delight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Obi-Wan and Anakin's day could be going better.

The slugs whizzed past their ears, taking divots out of the trees, as Obi-Wan and his padawan fled through the forest. It was humiliating, running from these uncivilized natives with their primitive weapons, but there was nothing a lightsaber could do against a slug shooter. A blaster bolt it could deflect, but not a slug, as evidenced by the one in Anakin’s arm. Obi-Wan might hate to run, but at least this way they’d live long enough for their dignity to recover.

They ran flat out for nearly an hour before their pursuers seem to lose interest, or at least their trail. “Well, that could have gone better,” Obi-Wan admitted as they slumped, exhausted, against the base of a tree. The whole situation was utterly incomprehensible. One minute they’d been having a perfectly pleasant conversation, and the next the queen was setting her guards on them. “I have no idea what went wrong.”

“I don’t think she liked your flirting,” Anakin said as he struggled to bind up his still-bleeding arm.

“Nonsense, I was delightful.”

Anakin yelped and shot to his feet. “I don’t think they’re delighted.” He pointed to the trio of armed natives who seemed to have materialized out of no where.

Obi-Wan rose more slowly, holding his hands in the air. The natives were watching them with narrowed eyes, but none had opened fire. There was still hope then that he could talk their way out of this. “Why, hello there,” he said, and plastered on his most winning smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt by [tikkunthisfuckingolam](https://tikkunthisfuckingolam.tumblr.com). Original post is [here](http://redrikki.tumblr.com/post/162766170099/idk-if-youre-still-doing-it-but-obi-wan-and)


	19. Padawan Beads

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ahsoka can't stop touching her new padawan beads.

Ahsoka touched her new padawan beads for what felt like the hundredth time. She’d worn them all the way from the Temple to Christophsis, but they still felt a bit unreal, and maybe even a bit unearned. “Master Yoda says I’m ready,” she reminded herself quietly.

“What was that?” Admiral Yularen asked distractedly as he piloted the shuttle.

“Nothing. Sorry.” Ahsoka slumped in her seat, glad he was too busy flying them past the Separatist blockade to notice her blushing. Ugh, why was she acting like this? She was a Jedi! She was supposed to be calm and confident. She’d passed her Initiate Trials, she had earned her beads. Just because her new master was the Chosen One, just because he hadn’t actually chosen her like a master should, didn’t mean he wouldn’t want her. Right?

The shuttle bounced a little as they hit the planet’s atmosphere. Ahsoka leaned forward to get her first look at a real battlefield. There seemed to be a lot more enemy battle droids than there should have been a secured planet.

“Hmm, they are having troubles,” Yularen said as he brought the shuttle down for a landing. “Are you sure you’ll be alright here, miss?”

“It’s padawan, actually,” Ahsoka said, unbuckling her safety harness, “and I’ll be fine.” Her focus determined her reality. She would be better than fine. Ahsoka threw back her shoulders and marched down the ramp. She would help her master re-take the planet and he would see that she was the best. “Alright, Master Skywalker, prepare to be amazed.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Original post can be found [here](http://redrikki.tumblr.com/post/162795309349/for-the-prompt-prepare-to-be-amazed-ahsoka).


	20. You okay, Ani?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Padmé finds Anakin after Obi-Wan is 'killed.' Episode tag for the Rako Hardeen arc.

Padmé came home from a late dinner meeting and knew right away there was something wrong. The air felt wrong, heavy and strangely sad. There was a speeder parallel parked half-way over her balcony. It had come in too low, knocking over one of the decorative planters spilling dirt and petals all over the floor. There was a line of dirty foot prints leading to her bedroom door. Padmé drew her hold-out blaster.

“Ani, is that you?” She called out without much hope. Her husband knew how to park a speeder. Of course, most professional assassins did too. There was only one way to find out. Padmé leveled her blaster and opened the bedroom door.

It was Anakin. He sat there with his hands in his lap and a curiously blank expression that reminded her frighteningly of the one he’d worn bringing back his mother’s corpse from the desert. There was a smear of blood across the front of his tunic and Padmé was suddenly afraid he had killed someone. 

“Anakin!” Padmé tossed aside her blaster and ran to him. “Ani?” She shook his shoulder and it took him a moment to respond. “Ani, what’s wrong?”

“Obi-Wan’s dead.”

“What?” That couldn’t be right. Pamdé wanted to interrogate him, ask him all the questions that would prove Obi-Wan wasn’t dead, but Anakin was crumpling. He curled into her arms, buried his face in her neck, and began to cry. It would be three days before he would say another word.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for the musical prompt "Smooth Criminal" given by eyeloch. Original post is [here](http://redrikki.tumblr.com/post/162923014769/what-about-smooth-criminal-and-anakin-skywalker).


	21. Amazing Grace

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luke saves Anakin and maybe Obi-Wan as well.

Obi-Wan’s mouth would have gaped in shock if he still had a mouth to gape with. “Unexpected, this is,” Yoda said as the Emperor fell down, down into the reactor shaft. Vader fell too, collapsing like a puppet with its strings cut. Luke rushed to his side with a wordless cry of concern.

“You are a master of understatement,” Obi-Wan said dryly. “Who would have thought he had it in him?” Obi-Wan certainly hadn’t. From Anakin, he would have expected a stunt like this. The boy had been almost too eager to risk his life to save Obi-Wan or Ahsoka or any random stranger with whom he had exchanged a kind word, but Vader? He was more machine than man and too fallen for such selflessness. No Jedi in the galaxy would have thought the fallen could rise again. Yet Padmé had, and now Luke was helping Anakin to his feet. They clung together, stumbling their way to freedom.

“Is _that_ all it took?” For years, decades, Obi-Wan had agonized over how he could have saved Anakin. He was sure if he had only been stricter, more vigilant, he could have quashed the seeds of disobedience before they bloomed into Darkness. Luke had managed it with an offer of love and a path back to the Light. “ _I_ could have done that.”

“Accepted both his darkness and his light, you could?”

In other words, accepted Anakin as a whole, faults and all? No, Obi-Wan supposed he couldn’t, or at least he hadn’t. Was that where he had failed? Well, if he was to be an eddy in the stream of the Force for all eternity, he supposed now was as good a time as any to start.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for [anakinbun's](anakinbun.tumblr.com) prompt "Amazing Grace." Original post his [here](http://redrikki.tumblr.com/post/162977735819/ipod-shuffle-amazing-grace-you-can-choose).


	22. Don't Want No Scrub

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Padmé and Dormé aren't much impressed with Anakin.

Pamdé made the mistake of sharing a look with Dormé and the two of them dissolved into helpless giggles as her bedroom door slid shut behind her. She tried to contain it, pressing a hand to her lips, but it came out anyway as inelegant little snorts. She shouldn’t laugh. Cordé was dead and a killer was after her, but it was just so ridiculous. This was the crack team the Council and the Chancellor sent to protect her? A too-eager boy and his exasperated mentor? 

Dormé was having a harder time controlling her mirth. “Oh, oh,” she gasped, clutching her side. She managed to get her breathing back under control with real effort. “You’ve grown more beautiful,” she said, dropping her voice an octave in a fair imitation of Anakin, “for a senator, I mean.” 

Oh, Anakin. Padmé shook her head fondly. “He really hasn’t changed.” Since she’d last seen him, he’d sprung up over two feet but he was still that odd little boy who had asked if she was an angel and told her his whole life story. His utter lack of artifice would have been almost charming if it wasn’t so painfully awkward.

“Hmmm.” Dormé studied her with narrowed eyes. “I don’t recall him being quite that pretty.”

Padmé’s cheeks burned. Mother of moons, the boy was gorgeous. If only she hadn’t known him. If only he hadn’t opened his mouth. “I don’t know how much use they will be,” she said tartly, “but at least we’ll have something nice to look at.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for musical prompt "No Angels" by Bastille for [klorophile](klorophile.tumblr.com). Original post is [here](http://redrikki.tumblr.com/post/163018963339/anakin-no-angels-by-bastille).


	23. All I Know

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luke and Leia in the run-up to _The Force Awakens_.

“The Resistance needs you, Luke.” 

Looking around Leia’s high tech command center, he didn’t see how. It wasn’t fully staffed yet, but people and funds were flooding in on a daily basis. Luke shook his head, gesturing around the room. “How does a Jedi fit into this? What can I possibly do?”

Leia pursed her lips. “You fought for the Rebellion,” she pointed out like the situation was in any way the same.

“I had better knees then.” It was more than that though. Back then, Luke had known exactly what he was fighting for. He wasn’t sure anyone knew quite what the Resistance was about. Covert ops for a government too cowardly take on the First Order directly? Leia Organa’s vanity project? Luke knew better than to think that later, but he wasn’t sure he wanted anything to do with the former.

Leia crossed her arms, radiating her annoyance into the Force. “You’d be good for morale. It will help the troops to know that the Force is with them.”

Luke snorted. “Is that why you were sent to recruit old B—old Kenobi?” All Ben Kenobi had done for the Rebellion was buy a little time and die dramatically. Luke wasn’t quite ready to do that yet. 

_Enough with the Resistance,_ Luke whispered into the Force. _Just tell me **you** need me and I’ll stay. _

For a moment, Luke thought she’d actually do it. Leia’s eyes grew dewy and pleading and Luke’s heart swelled in anticipation. Any second now, her mask would drop and they’d be able to actually talk about what happened. But instead Leia turned to look at the galactic map instead of her brother. “Your Republic needs you.”

Luke sighed. “I love you, Leia, but the Republic is _your_ life’s work. Please let me go and save mine.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Based on the musical prompt "All I Know" by Art Garfunkel from [the willow bends](http://thewillowbends.tumblr.com). Original prompt is [here](http://redrikki.tumblr.com/post/163055802284/art-garfunkels-all-i-know-and-hmmmhow-about).


	24. Can You Feel The Love Tonight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anakin and Padmé discuss baby names.

Anakin lay with his head in Padmé’s lap, eyes closed, listening to their baby’s heartbeat. It was content and almost half-asleep, but it’s heart seemed to race double time. Anakin frowned. “Does her heart seem fast to you?”

“Emdee says he’s perfectly healthy,” Pamdé said, stroking Anakin’s hair. “There’s nothing to worry about.”

There was, in Anakin’s experience, _always_ something to worry about. More than anything, he wished they could reveal their marriage and consult a real doctor. Emdee was the best medical droid money could buy, Anakin reminded himself. If it said the baby was fine, it was probably right. 

Padmé shifted uncomfortably and Anakin lifted his head so she could get comfortable. They settled back down and she resumed stroking his hair. “I like Luke,” she said, “for when he’s born.”

“Luke’s nice, but I sense she’s a girl.”

Padmé gave an exasperated sigh. Anakin had known about the pregnancy for less than a week and they’d already argued three times over gender. “Fine, then. What do you want to call her, if she’s a girl?”

“I don’t know.” Anakin frowned. He hadn’t really had time to think about it. Shmi hurt too much, and so did Ahsoka. “Luca, maybe?” The name was barely out of his mouth when baby kicked him in the head. She had a point. A girl like her deserved a strong, beautiful name all her own. “How about Leia?”

“Hmmmm.” Padmé considered. “Alright. Luke or Leia.”

Baby didn’t seem to mind that. Anakin opened his eyes and smiled up at his wife. “You know, we could just ask Emdee to tell us which it is.”

Padmé shook her head. “I want it to be a surprise. Besides, you wont love Luke any less if you're wrong.”

“Never.” Anakin rose up to kiss her. “If he’s anything like his mother, I couldn’t love Luke more.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for [here](http://anakinbun.tumblr.com>anakinbun's</a>%20musical%20prompt%20).


	25. You Should Eat Something

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Padmé thinks Anakin needs to eat something and he thinks she means her.

Anakin was almost painfully skinny. Padmé hadn’t noticed it before under all his layers of Jedi tunics and tabards, but she could practically count his ribs when he stripped for bed. “You should eat something,” she blurted as he made his approach.

“Alright,” he said with a predatory little smirk. He prowled up from the foot of the bed, licking a line up her inner thigh as he went.

Padmé started to melt under his tongue before she reminded herself to focus on her mission. “No!” She pushed his shoulder. “I meant you should _eat_ something.” 

Anakin pulled back, his face scrunched in confusion. “So, you don’t want me to—” he gestured towards her crotch.

“No.” Padmé flushed. “Well, yes.” Anakin’s first attempt at oral sex had been, well, a beginner’s first attempt, but he was eager to learn and his ability to sense her pleasure made him a very quick study. He took advantage of Padmé’s momentary distraction to get back to work. “Wait!” She pushed him away again.

Her poor husband looked confused and maybe a little hurt by the second interruption. “I mean I’m hungry,” Padmé fumbled for some sort of explanation. “Why don’t _we_ have something to eat and then _you_ can have something to eat.”

“Okay.” Anakin sat back on his haunches. “How about something juicy? Oh!” His eyes lit up. “How about berries?”

Berries? Padmé frowned. He really should eat something more substantial. Then she imagined licking berry juice off his nipples. She licked her lips. “Yeah, berries sound great.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My first ever attempt at writing something porn adjacent! Written for the prompt "you need to eat something." Original post is [here](http://redrikki.tumblr.com/post/163194691174/for-the-prompt-thing-15-anidala).


	26. You Look Sad

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luke and Vader share a dream.

Entombed in his bacta chamber, Vader let his mind drift into the Force. As a boy, he had found the Force’s cacophony overwhelming, nearly painfully so. As a man, he still did, but now he deserved it. These days the Force was Dark and oppressive, filled with anger, grief, and sorrow. As a Sith, he should rejoice. Instead, Vader found himself drawn to the few points of light which remained.

“You look sad,” a voice piped. The speaker was a child of about six years old with sandy hair and blue eyes. For a moment, Vader thought he was a ghost of the Temple, but his clothes were more Tatooine moisture farmer than Jedi youngling. The boy had Padmé’s face, Vader realized with an unpleasant jolt.

“You’re not real.”

The boy’s forehead wrinkled in confusion. He poked his chest, then tried pinching his arm. “I feel real.”

“You’re dead,” Vader told him sadly. Padmé had wanted to call him Luke, he recalled. In another life he could have raised this boy. “I killed you along with your mother.”

“But that’s not right!” the boy insisted. “I _am_ alive and _you’re_ just a stupid dream.” He turned to look over his shoulder as though someone had called him. “Alright, Aunt Beru,” he hollered back. “See,” he turned to Vader, “it’s time to wake up.”

The boy winked out of existence and Vader opened his eyes to find that the technicians were draining the tank. He couldn’t have said if the dream had been a pleasant one or a nightmare.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for [here](http://anakinbun.tumblr.com>anakinbun's</a>%20prompt%20). She wanted something fluffy. Well, I sure showed her.


	27. Nightmare

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rex wakes Ahsoka from a nightmare

A hand on her shoulder wrenched Ahsoka out of a nightmare and sent her reaching for her lightsabers. She was already swinging before she realized it was just Rex. She barely managed to disengage the blades before she took his head off. Ahsoka woke up gasping with a lightsaber in each hand.

“Whoa.” Rex scrambled backwards, overbalanced, and ended up on his ass. “Guess that’s what I get for trying to wake Jedi,” he said with a weak chuckle. He made a joke out of it, but Ahsoka could sense his fear.

“Sorry! Sorry!” Ahsoka hurriedly clipped her sabers back to her belt and tried to rub the sleep out of her eyes. Already her dream was fading, but her heart was still pounding. She could have killed him. She tried to find the serenity of the Force, but it was hard to stop her hands from shaking.

“Why did you wake me?” The plan was to rest until nightfall, then march to the rendezvous under the cover of darkness. The sun was just starting to kiss the horizon. Ahsoka should still have had a good ten minutes left to sleep.

Rex pulled himself up from his sprawl to sit in front of her. He kept, Ahsoka noticed, a good three feet between them. “You cried out. Figured you were having a nightmare.”

Ahsoka flushed. “Jedi don’t have nightmares.”

The look Rex gave her was deeply unimpressed.

“Jedi aren’t supposed to have nightmares.” Back at the Temple, Ahsoka had been taught that nightmares were a symptom of an unsettled mind. Jedi, meanwhile, should always be at peace. She tried so hard not to let the war get to her, but the nightmares kept coming back.

Rex’s mouth twisted into something too sardonic to be properly called a smile. “Clones aren’t supposed to have nightmares either.” He swallowed hard. “I have them all the time.”

Rex too? “Do—do you think there’s something wrong with us?”

Rex shrugged. “Either us or the galaxy.”

Neither was a particularly comforting option. Ahoska watched the sun slip bellow the horizon and tried to decide which scared her more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for [thewillowbends'](http://thewillowbends.tumblr.com) prompt "I heard you having a nightmare." Original post is [here](http://redrikki.tumblr.com/post/163231644494/12-rex-and-ahsoka-it-can-be-romantic-or).


	28. Feverish

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A feverish Padmé struggles to write a bill while Anakin struggles to make her stop.

“Master Ani, thank the maker you’re here,” C-3PO exclaimed with his usual drama as he accepted Anakin’s cloak.

Anakin looked the droid over for damage. He seemed to be moving fine. Loose connection in his inner circuits, maybe? “What seems to be the problem?”

“It’s Mistress Padmé. She seems to be unwell but she insists--”

Anakin pushed past him into the apartment without waiting to hear the rest. “Padmé?” he called, jogging through the receiving hall and the sitting room headed for the inner sanctum.

He found her hunched over her desk, typing listlessly on her data pad. She looked up as Anakin burst in. “Anakin,” she said dully. Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes glassy.

Anakin was at her side in a heartbeat. He laid his hand across Padmé’s forehead. “You’re burning up!”

Padmé shook him off. “I can’t deal with that now. This bill is up for a vote tomorrow and it’s too important.”

Anakin glanced down at the document. _The increased HoloNet Metadata Collection and Analysis Act._ It sounded incredibly tedious to him, but he’d take her word for it. “You won’t be able to vote for it tomorrow if you’re too sick to stand.” It was an argument Obi-Wan had used before on him. Now seemed like a good time to try it on someone else. “How about I help you to bed?” He gently pulled her data pad away.

“No!” With her crossed arms and petulant frown, Padmé looked like an overgrown child in a fancy dress. “I need to finish writing my amendment.”

He looked down at what she had written and frowned. “The metal dote shall not be retinued for more than--”

“That's not what I wrote!” Padmé snatched her data pad from his hand. She traced the line of text with her finger and gasped when she realized she actually had.

“See,” Anakin said, reclaiming the data pad and setting it behind him. “You’re too sick to type straight. Let me sent 3PO for a med droid and put you to bed.”

Padmé glared at him with narrow and feverish eyes and Anakin dreaded the possibility to having to drag her from her desk by force. Then she sighed and consented to let him scoop her up. She felt like a small furnace in his arms. “You’ll fix my spelling, won’t you?” Padmé asked, her head lolling back against his shoulder.

“Of course.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for [klorophile's](http://klorophile.tumblr.com) prompt "you're burning up." Original post is [here](http://redrikki.tumblr.com/post/163430833884/could-you-do-5-with-anidala-please).


	29. Pride of Ownership

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sidious discovers Anakin has an unexpected talent.

The damn holotable was on the fritz again. Sidious swore he was surrounded by incompetents. He’d had three technicians in to look at the thing and none had managed to fix it.

“I’ll do it,” Anakin offered.

Sidious pursed his lips to keep from laughing. Well, someone certainly thought highly of himself. A ten-year-old boy fix what three highly trained professionals couldn’t? Sidious thought not. “What a kind offer,” he said, smiling thinly.

He’d planned a few more subtly scathing things to say but, no sooner had the words left his mouth, then Anakin got to work. Lacking any proper tools, he used a data pad stylus, a bit of wire, and a judicious application of the Force to take the thing apart. He spread the components across the carpet of Sidious’s office, studying each one. There was one piece he singled out for a special bit of fiddling before quickly reassembling the entire thing. It worked perfectly.

Blinking in shock, Sidious looked from Anakin’s somewhat anxious expression to the holotable and back again. A slow smiled oozed across his face. How delightfully unexpected. “My boy, what a prodigious talent you have.” Anakin brightened. “The Jedi taught you this?” Anakin dimmed.

“No.” The boy’s shoulders slumped. “I learned it” --he gestured vaguely-- “before. The Jedi think it’s a waste of time.”

They weren’t entirely wrong. A talent for machines didn’t really fit into Sidious’s plans for the boy. Sidious stroked his chin, considering. He could use this moment to strike another blow against the boy’s already fragile self-esteem or drive a further wedge between Anakin and the Jedi. Instead, he flashed him a genuine smile and clapped him on the shoulder. Was this love, this pride of ownership he felt looking at his amazingly talented boy? Sidious suspected not, but was as close as he’d ever get.

“Well, I think it’s brilliant,” Sidious said and took him out for ice cream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for the anonymous prompt "the worst part about sideous is that he does have genuine affection for Anakin". Original post is [here](http://redrikki.tumblr.com/post/163495241374/if-youre-still-accepting-prompts-the-worst-part).


	30. Three Sentence AUs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Three sentence AUs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Original prompts are [ here](http://redrikki.tumblr.com/post/164834028199/luke-anakin-au-where-they-are-all-a-happy), [here](http://redrikki.tumblr.com/post/164835869194/anakinobi-wan-rehab-au-idk-whatever-you-want), [here](http://redrikki.tumblr.com/post/164895397309/anakin-ahsoka-harry-potter-au-please), and [here](http://redrikki.tumblr.com/post/166260841854/you-asked-for-prompts-on-bos-luke-and-leia).

**Happy Families AU**

Varykino wasn’t the site of _every_ happy memory, but Anakin had made a lot of good ones here: his courtship, his marriage, the birth of his children, and now his son was braiding flowers into his hair.

“Do you ever regret leaving the Jedi, Dad?”

“Not for a second.”

*****

**Happy Families AU Round 2**

The twins switch off who plays the brave Senator and their valiant Jedi protector. On their latest quest, Leia watches Luke’s back while he tries to negotiate the release of the captive stuffed tooka while their parents smile indulgently.

“Think we should tell them that’s how we got together?”

*****

**Rehab AU**

“You’re not a very good rehab councilor, are you?”

“What?” asked Obi-Wan, clearly offended.

“It’s hard to open up to someone who thinks you’re weak for getting hooked on Dark Side in the first place."

*****

**Harry Potter AU**

Ahsoka eyed her assigned mentor's 'Badger and Proud' t-shirt uncertainly. "I'm new at this auror stuff, but shouldn't the Hero With No Fear be a Gryffandor?"

Skywalker's face was like a thundercloud, but Senior-Auror Kenobi nearly wet himself laughing.

*****

**Destiny AU**

The Son and Daughter thrashed against him, but Anakin held them, as he would apparently do for the rest of eternity.

“You’re staying,” Obi-Wan said, his sadness coloring the Force.

Anakin knew he was abandoning the war effort, but he’d thought Obi-Wan would be glad he was finally fulfilling his destiny.


	31. Twi'lek

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anakin is a Twi'lek AU

There were no Twi’liks on the Council, which made sense. Watto always said they were born to be slaves. Females were designed to be pretty and please their masters, while males like Anakin were made for heavy labor. Humans like Qui-Gon and his apprentice got to be Jedi, but even Mom hadn’t believed the man when he said Anakin could be one too. 

“No,” said the little green Master, banging his cane, “train this boy, we will not.”

Anakin’s lekku drooped, but he wasn't exactly surprised. Everyone knew you couldn’t train a Twi’lik to be anything but a slave.


	32. Schism-Verse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dooku and Palpatine discuss recruiting Anakin in a world in which the Jedi have split over the war.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for the prompt "Schism in the Jedi order with several Jedi refusing to become soldiers. It becomes highly publicised in the republic and dooku is very interested. Maybe obi wan and anakin obey the council until anakin no longer can. Dooku's just like if I can have my grand padawan I'll have my great grand padawan". Original post is [here](http://redrikki.tumblr.com/post/165304281874/schism-in-the-jedi-order-with-several-jedi).

“Skywalker has broken with the Council,” Sidious said, unable to contain his amusement.

“Did he?” Dooku struggled to sound interested. He never understood his master’s fascination with the boy. Skywalker might be the Chosen One, but it was Kenobi who was the real prize. Mature and seasoned, his padawan’s padawan was the perfect Jedi and everything that reckless child was not. “I can’t imagine he joined the pacifists.”

At the start of the war, a small number of Jedi, lead by former Councilwoman Depa Billaba, had refused to go to war. They felt becoming officers and commanding clones was a violation of the spirit of the Jedi Order. Yoda and his ilk had, of course, disagreed. The Order had tried to keep the news under wraps so, when Sidious eventually leaked it to the press, it was a huge blow for Republic morale. Dooku found it rather hard to believe that Skywalker had thrown his lot in with them. He seemed to enjoy the war too much.

“Not precisely. The incident on Ringo Vinda and the Council’s response was the straw which broke the eopie’s back, but there are other parties vying for his allegiance.”

Other parties meaning _him_. Dooku narrowed his eyes. If Sidious thought he could simply replace him with this young upstart he was sadly mistaken. Still, Skywalker had proved increasingly difficult to kill. Clearly, Dooku would just have to acquire the boy first.


	33. War Apprentice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ahsoka and Anakin discuss life as a child soldier.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for an anonymous tumblr prompt asking for Ahsoka and Anakin, dealing with her being tossed into a war zone as a child. Original post is [here](http://redrikki.tumblr.com/post/165794584009/your-writing-is-amazing-and-i-shamelessly-want-to).

They were working on _The Twilight_ together. Ahsoka wrangled the tools while Anakin fixed this and tinkered with that. She had taken a spacecraft repair class back at the Temple, but she was learning so much more just watching her master work.

“Wait.” Ahsoka interrupted a story about some wacky hjinx Anakin and Obi-Wan had gotten up to back when he was eleven. “Just how old were you were you when you became a padawan?”

“Ah...nine,” Anakin answered absently, his head still buried in in the panel he was re-wiring. 

“Nine,” Ahsoka repeated flatly. “And you asked _me_ if I was old enough?”

“That’s different.”

“Because I’m not the Chosen One?” They couldn’t all be born with a special destiny and a lightsaber in their hands. 

“No.” Anakin looked up from his work and pushed his goggles back. His eyes were serious. “This is war, Ahsoka. I was taking classes at the Temple and tagging along on diplomatic missions. You’re getting shot at by battle droids. I wouldn’t have lasted five minutes back when I was nine.”

“Oh.” It was strange, the war had been going on for less than a year, but Ahsoka couldn’t imagine Anakin or the Order with out it. What did padawans even do if they weren’t following their masters into combat? 

Of course her master picked up on thoughts. “Don’t worry, Snips,” he said. “Once we win the war I’ll show you what an apprenticeship is supposed to be like.” He slid his goggles into place and went to work.


	34. Breaking the News

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anakin decides to leave the Order after finding out his wife is pregnant. He owes it to Obi-Wan to tell him first.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for the anonymous tumblr prompt "AU where Anakin Skywalker leaves Jedi Order after finding out Padmé's pregnant." Original post his [here](http://redrikki.tumblr.com/post/165901935969/what-do-you-think-about-an-au-where-anakin).

Anakin always intended to leave the Jedi as soon as the war was over. That was the plan they’d discussed even before they said their marriage vows. Ahsoka had complicated things a bit, but now she was gone. Dooku was dead, the war was winding down, and there was nothing keeping him with the Order. Well, there was one thing.

“Leaving,” Obi-Wan repeated flatly when Anakin broke the news to him in his quarters. He owed it to his master not to just spring this on him in front of the entire Council.

“I know things have been strained between you and the Council of late,” Obi-Wan said slowly, “but I refuse to believe that you’d be selfish enough to abandon the Order over hurt feelings.”

Selfish. That hurt, but it wasn’t wrong. It was selfish to want love. Selfish to want a family. Selfish to want a life outside the Order. Selfish to want more than obedience and loss and shame. Anakin was selfish, but he was willing to accept that if it meant he could raise his children.  
He took a deep breath and prepared to break his master’s heart. “I’m married.”

“To Padmé.” It wasn’t a question. All the lies and fretting and Obi-Wan had already know. “You couldn’t wait for the war to end first?”

It took Anakin a moment to understand what he meant. Obi-Wan had known that he loved Padmé; he just hadn’t known they were already married. “We got married right after Geonosis.”

Obi-Wan blinked. He opened his mouth. He closed his mouth. He blinked again. “I see,” he said, and sank down on to the bed. Anakin braced for his anger and disappointment, but it never came. All he could sense was sadness and shock. “Then what’s the rush to leave now?”

“We’re having a baby!” He tried to contain his joy, if only for his master’s sake, but he failed badly.

Obi-Wan closed his eyes, his shoulders slumped. “I have failed you,” he said, like it wasn’t Anakin who was failing _him_. 

“I’m so sorry, Master.” Anakin sat down beside him. He wished he could hug the man and somehow make it better. “I didn't mean to reject your teachings. I just want to be happy.”


	35. First Forgetting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> C-3PO reflects on his various memory wipes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for Star Wars Fictober challenge "First." Original post is [here](http://redrikki.tumblr.com/post/165956619404/star-wars-fictober-first).

C-3PO couldn’t recall his first memory wipe which was, he supposed, rather the point. He remembered the later ones. Not what he had lost, obviously, but he was generally aware that he had lost something. An hour here, a week there. However much his master needed him to forget to keep his secrets. Not the first time though. The wipe had been so complete, C-3PO might have imagined himself fresh off the factory floor if it wasn’t for the boy. He saw him sometimes as he was powering up. The boy was no one particularly special, just a scruffy human child, his one original memory, and the only proof C-3PO hadn’t always belonged to Captain Antilles. He wondered where that boy was and if he ever thought of finding his droid.


	36. Game Theory

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Padmé teaches Ahsoka the trick to dejarik and, by extension, politics and war.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for Star Wars Fictober challenge 05 Games. Original post is [here](http://redrikki.tumblr.com/post/166074823344/star-wars-fictober-05-games).

Ahsoka groaned as she studied the dejarik board. Somehow, Padmé had managed to lure her into a fork. Again. No matter what she did, she was going to lose one of her two remaining pieces. If she withdrew one, she’d leave the other vulnerable. And if she chose to attack? Ahsoka checked her stats. Yeah, she’d be crushed.

“How do you keep doing that?” And how did she keep falling for it? Ahsoka was a Jedi. Her master was one of the Order’s best generals. How did she keep losing to a Senator?

“In some ways, dejarik is a lot like politics.”

“Crush a lot of people in the Senate, do you?”

“Well, no,” Padmé said with a chuckle, “but there is a lot of conflict. Whether your playing dejarik or negotiating a bill, there are three things you must know.” She ticked them off on her fingers. “What are your goals? What are your resources? What are you prepared to sacrifice?”

Ahsoka frowned. “You make politics sound like war.”

“By another means, yes. So--“ Padmé gestured to the board-- “What’s your goal?”

“To win.”

“And what are your resources?”

“A ghhk and a houjix.” Of the two, the ghhk was the stronger fighter, but neither could match Padmé’s kintan strider. Maybe if they worked together, but Ahsoka was pretty sure that was against the rules.

Padmé nodded. “Now, which are you willing to sacrifice?”

Ahsoka directed her houjix forward, only to watch in horror as Padmé attacked her ghhk instead.

“Of course,” she said, with just a hint of a smug little smile, “the real trick is knowing your opponent’s answers too.”

Clearly, Padmé was a master at that last one. All Ahsoka could do was watch the carnage and groan.


	37. Friendship Fail

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Obi-Wan tries to give Anakin some advice on making friends at the Temple.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for Star Wars Fictober prompt 06 friends. Original post is [here](http://redrikki.tumblr.com/post/166117731529/star-wars-fictober-06-friends).

Back when he was small, Obi-Wan and another youngling had been inseparable to the point that the Order was forced to transfer both of them to different crèches. He could barely recall the other boy’s name now, but, at the time, he’d been inconsolable. The first few weeks without his friend had been the worst of Obi-Wan’s young life, but then his new crèchemates had rallied around him and taught him to be happy again. In the end, the whole experience helped to strengthen his bond with the Order as a whole and teach him a valuable lesson about the dangers of attachment and placing all his hopes for happiness on one person.

In a way, Anakin was going through something similar leaving his mother behind on Tatooine, but, instead of relying on his on his friends within the Order, he held himself apart. He studied alone. He ate alone. During his rare moments of free time, he studied in the library or tinkered with droids in his room instead of sparing or just hanging about with his age-mates like any normal padawan would do.

“You’re never going to make any friends that way,” Obi-Wan pointed out six months into Anakin’s first year at the Temple as he watched the boy fiddle with a broken cleaning droid.

“I tried making friends,” he said, sounding rather sullen.”They’re just mean,” he added, which was patently ridiculous. Who ever heard of Jedi younglings being mean?

“Anakin,” Obi-Wan sighed.

“I tried, Master, I really did. They just don’t like me.”

Now that, Obi-Wan could believe. No one seemed to like him. When they weren’t shaking their heads over his appalling ignorance, his teachers were constantly complaining about his tendency to ask quarrelsome questions. Despite his age and late start, Anakin had proved so strong in the Force that the Temple was awash with rumors of his arrogance. Was it any wonder his peers didn’t care for him when he argued with his teachers and was so much more capable than anyone with his age and background had a right to be? Throw in his tendency towards emotional outbursts and it was hardly a surprise they wanted nothing to do with him.

Obi-Wan sighed again. What advice could he give to a child who apparently wanted friends but was too, well, difficult to make them? “Maybe if you try harder to not be so–“ He trailed off. Not so what? So talented? So passionate? So _Anakin_? “Just try harder. I’m sure they’ll come around.”


	38. Heart Grows Fonder

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shmi reminds herself to be happy that her son is gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for Star Wars Fictober prompt 07 absent. Original post is [here](http://redrikki.tumblr.com/post/166163751184/star-wars-fictober-07-absent).

Anakin doesn’t look back and Shmi doesn’t cry. She stands dry-eyed and watches as her son disappears down the street and from her life. This is a happy day. Her Ani is free today. He will never bow or call anyone Master again. The Jedi will teach him, Qui-Gon will care for him, and he will be great. 

He’s barely out of sight, but already his absence is like a hole in her heart. Shmi longs to run after them, but what sort of mother would she be if she denied her son this chance? She wraps her arms around herself and takes deep breaths until she can trust herself not to do something foolish. The sun beats down on the courtyard. _This is a happy day. This is a joyous moment,_ Shmi reminds herself, over and over until she’s strong enough to return to her empty home and get back to work.


	39. Most Dangerous Season

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Winter is Tatooine's most dangerous season.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for the Star Wars Fictober prompt 08 winter. Original post is [here](http://redrikki.tumblr.com/post/166201807719/star-wars-fictober-08-winter).

Summer is marked by sandstorms strong enough to strip a man’s flesh, but, in a strange way, winter is Tatooine’s most dangerous season. Winter rains come at night. When the skies are cloudy and the wind blows from the north, the People set out their catch basins before suns set and retreat to the relative warmth of their tents. The rain falls with the temperatures, down, down, disappearing into the ground. It reemerges months later as tough poonten grass and sweet pallie fruit.

A visiter might be forgiven for failing to see the danger in that, but the desert is not the forgiving sort. The winter winds are not always kind. Sometimes they blow from the barren wastes of the south and carry no water with them. Sometimes the nights are too warm, and the water refuses to abandon the clouds. Forget to honor winter, and it will keep it’s water. Then the wells will dry and the grasses won’t grow. The herds will starve and the People with them. The summer winds will blow across empty sand and their wrath will be terrible. 

The invaders think they can cheat the seasons. Their machines suck at the sky like a bantha calf at it’s mother’s tit and now the sky is running dry. A bantha will kick her calf away before it kills her with it’s thirst. Tatooine is trying with her storms and fury, but the invaders will not be shaken loose. If their world is to be saved, it will be at their hand. Time for every good Tusken to grab a blaster and teach these settlers to fear winter.


	40. How Do You Solve a Problem Like Anakin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mace Windu and the Council discuss what to do with Anakin Skywalker.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for Star Wars Fictober prompt 09 flaw. Original post is [here](http://redrikki.tumblr.com/post/166253350734/star-wars-fictober-09-flaw).

There was something unsettling about just how aggressively innocuous Anakin Skywalker looked. The boy wasn’t _a_ vergence, he was _the_ vergence. There were so many shatterpoints surrounding him, he was practically a flaw in the fabric of reality. Mace didn’t know if he really was the Chosen One, but no one with that much potential had any right being a ragamuffin slave.

Skywalker had tested well and proved strong in the Force, but the whole Council in turmoil by the time he was through. They exchanged uneasy glances as he bowed and left the room.

“Clouded, the boy’s future is,” said Yoda.

“That is an understatement,” Mace said, trying to massage away a looming headache. A possible Sith and a definite vergence were not what he was expecting when he woke up this morning. Trust Qui-Gon to dump both of them in his lap at once.

“He could be a great warrior for the Light,” Depa said.

“Or a tool for the Dark Side,” countered Ki-Adi-Mundi. “We can not risk training him.”

But what to do with him if they didn’t? Mace closed his eyes and traced the possibilities. Skywalker could save and be adopted by the Royal House of Naboo. He could be acquired by the Sith. He could spark a slave revolt in the Outer Rim. There was no path Mace could see where the boy starved quietly on a street somewhere. They could dump him into the darkest hole of the Coruscant’s Lower Levels and he would still shape the fate of the galaxy.

“I agree that he is too dangerous to train,” Mace said, “but we can not let this boy out of our custody.” No child with that much sheer potential could be allowed to shape their own destiny.

“What are you suggesting?”

What was he suggesting? Mace wasn’t sure he knew. They should keep the boy, but as what? A ward? A prisoner? A servant? Any option would be as unprecedented as taking on a 9-year-old initiate, but what could they do? Just sit back and let the galaxy change?


	41. A King of Infinite Space

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ahsoka and Anakin talk prophetic dreams.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for Star Wars Fictober prompt 10 dream. Original post is [here](http://redrikki.tumblr.com/post/166262877069/star-wars-fictober-10-dreams).

“I’m really proud of you, Snips. The Senator says you did an amazing job protecting her. Guess you proved me wrong after all.”

“Huh.” Ahsoka slowed her pace as she considered. Would she have learned to hone her visions without Master Yoda’s advice? Maybe not. She certainly wouldn’t have been around to save Padme if she’d joined Anakin on his mission. “Well, I didn’t exactly get caught up on my studies, but I guess I did learn something after all.” She smiled up at her master and he smiled back. “Have you ever had prophetic dreams like that?”

The smile fell from his face like a crashing ship and his shoulders tightened. “Yes.”

“What about?”

“My mother. I dreamed she was suffering.”

There was something in his voice that reminded her of that time in the desert. What was it he’d said then? _The desert is merciless. It takes everything._ Anakin didn’t like talking about his past, but Ahsoka sensed that now was the time to push. “What did Master Yoda say when you went to him? He gave me some really good advice.”

Anakin shook his head. “I didn’t. I talked to Obi-Wan.”

That made sense. If Anakin had been on-world, Ahsoka probably would have talked to him instead. After all, that’s what a master was for. “And what dd he say?”

“That dreams pass in time.”

Ahsoka frowned. That didn’t sound right. Like Master Yoda said, dreams and visions were the Force’s way of communicating. You couldn’t just ignore them. Well, obviously you could, but it was sure to end badly. “And did they? Pass?”

“They stopped when she died.” Anakin’s voice broke on the last word and Ahsoka was hit by an overwhelming blast of sadness-guilt-anger before he managed to tamp it down.

“Anakin–“ Ahsoka reached for him, but he pulled away.

“Tell you what, Snips,” he said with a smile as brittle as glass, “next time I have dreams like that, I’ll follow your lead and go to Yoda for advice.”


	42. It's a Look

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Padmé has some thoughts about Anakin's hair.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for Star Wars Fictober prompt 13 look. Original post is [here](http://redrikki.tumblr.com/post/166364481479/star-wars-fictober-13-look).

Anakin set the brush down and divided Padmé’s hair for braiding. He wasn’t as capable of the more elaborate styles she preferred as her handmaidens were, but that hardly mattered. They were staying in today and she enjoyed having him play with her hair.

There was just one thing she didn’t understand. “How do you even know how to braid?”

“I had a braid for years. Don’t you remember?”

He had? Oh, yes, that skinny little thing behind his ear. Obi-Wan had worn something similar when he was a padawan, if she recalled correctly. It was an...interesting look. “Do all young Jedi wear their hair like that?”

“Just those of us with hair. The ones without usually wear beads or something.”

Ugh. Really? “All of you? You all had to wear that skinny braid and stubby little tail? Even the girls?” On Naboo a woman’s hair was her glory, grown out from the day of her birth. Trimming for maintenance was acceptable, of course, but to just hack it all off? Padmé shuddered at the thought.

“The tail is optional.”

What? Padmé turned to stare at her husband. “And you wore it anyway?”

“What’s wrong with the tail?” Anakin asked with a pout. He raised his hand as if to check it was still there, accidentally letting her braid unravel. “Obi-Wan wore a tail when he was a padawan.”

“Oh, _Obi-Wan_ wore one. Must you do everything Obi-Wan does? Shall I expect a beard and mullet next?”

“You’re teasing, but if I did everything Obi-Wan does, we wouldn’t be married,” he said tartly, and then, sounding unsure, “Did you want me to grow a--“

“No on the beard.” At least not for a while. They were fine on older men who needed a little something to hide their double chins, but she wanted an unobstructed view of her husband’s pretty face. "A mullet would be acceptable. Maybe.” Anakin’s hair was just past his ears and she did like running her hands through it. “Give it a try. If it looks as bad as that stupid tail, I can always cut it off.”


	43. Sense of Purpose

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The clones have outlived their purpose. Now what?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for Star Wars Fictober prompt 12 destiny. Original post is [here](http://redrikki.tumblr.com/post/166403671729/star-wars-fictober-12-destiny).

Clones didn’t really do existential crises. They didn’t sit around wondering who am I, what’s my destiny. They knew exactly what they were there for. They were born, they were created, to fight and die so that real people might live. For most of his life, Rex was okay with that. Let other brothers rail against their fate, desert, or call it slavery. Rex has a purpose and his inevitable death would have meaning. How many other beings can claim that?

But the purpose Rex believed was his is a lie. He’s not the Republic’s weapon. He’s a Separatist trap, a plot against the very people he’s sworn to serve. Killing Jedi is what he’s for but, when Order 66 comes down, he doesn’t do it. All across the galaxy, his brothers shoot their Jedi down while Rex fakes his death and runs. 

The years after Order 66 are hard on clones. There are those who are happy enough to transfer their allegiances to the Empire, but just as many who shared a good-bye kiss with a blaster when they realize what they’ve done. Rex runs into Wolffe in some crummy cantina in the Outer Rim. They’d barely spoken during the war, but seeing a brother feels like coming home. 

“The war’s over, my Jedi’s dead, and the Empire decommissioned me on account of my eye.” Wolffe lays his story out over beer. He swears he didn’t kill his Jedi, but he still has the haggard look of a man on the verge of eating his blaster. “We’ve outlived what they made us for, brother.” He shakes his head. “I don’t know what to do any more.”

That’s the question, isn’t it. They’d had a purpose before and coming up with your own is harder than it looks. Rex has been drifting since the war. He’s tried his hand at guarding and bounty hunting, but had all felt hollow without his brothers by his side. “I don’t know what we should do, brother, but I say we figure it out together.”


	44. Life as a Weapon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The weapon that is Vader returns to Mustafar.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for Star Wars Fictober prompt 18 weapon. Original post is [here](http://redrikki.tumblr.com/post/166569399014/star-wars-fictober-18-weapon).

Vader’s return to Mustafar is not a homecoming. Weapons do not have homes. They have sheaths and holsters where they are stored until their next use. At Mustafar, Vader is field stripped and cleaned like a blaster before being soaked. He floats in bacta under the watchful eye of his Master’s guards.

There was a time when his younger self would have railed against such treatment. He was a person and his name was Anakin, but now he knows better. He is Vader and being a weapon is not so bad. Weapons feel no pain. Weapons are unaffected by the screams of those they have hurt, un-haunted by the ghosts of those they have killed. Vader closes his eyes and wishes he truly were the weapon he is treated as.


	45. Two Hearts As One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two hearts beat as one until only Vader remains.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for Star Wars Fictober prompt 25 heartbeat. Original post is [here](http://redrikki.tumblr.com/post/166794536154/star-wars-fictober-25-heartbeat).

Two hearts beat as one despite the space and stars between them. Anakin Skywalker and Padmé Amidala were inexorably bound by love and Force. How romantic. How cliché. How convenient. Anakin writhed and screamed on the table as Cylo and his droids prepared him for the suit. Sidious had been planning on some sort of ‘accident’ to keep the boy contained, but this was more than he bargained for. Anakin had lost three limbs, most of his skin, and a good deal of blood. The Force was the only thing keeping him alive. The Force and Sidious. He’d invested too much in this apprentice to lose him now.

Two hearts beat as one and Sidious drew on the connection and drew and drew and drew. For too long, Amidala had been a thorn in his side. She was supposed to be his puppet, but, since the Occupation of Naboo, she had defied him at every turn. Delaying his war, undermining his authority, and stealing the affections of his chosen apprentice. The woman was nothing but trouble. Well, she would serve him now. Her life-force would keep Anakin alive and her death would bind him to Sidious forever.

Two hearts beat as one and then ceased altogether. It seemed Anakin Skywalker was unable to live without Padmé Amidala after all. How sweet. Sidious nodded to Cylo to continue with the procedure. The mask locked into place. A hiss. A beat. A breath. Then another and another. Anakin and Padmé were dead, but Vader remained. Sidious smiled thinly. Anakin’s heart had beaten for Padmé, but Vader’s heart beat only for him.


	46. Peace for Fun and Profit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Padmé and Bail lobby for peace.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for Star Wars Fictober prompt 30 peace. Original post is [here](http://redrikki.tumblr.com/post/166946668476/star-wars-fictober-30-peace).

Dead clone troopers didn’t come cheap. Each represented the loss of hundreds of thousands of credits invested in production and training. The math was cold, but, if Padmé were to sway Senator T’cheka to their side, then cold, hard facts were exactly what she needed.

“As you can see,” Padmé said as she handed T’cheka the datapad with all the necessary data and charts, “the war is ruining our economy.”

T’cheka’s neck ruffles flared as ze looked over Padmé’s numbers. “This is outrageous!”

Padmé and Bail exchanged a triumphant look. With T’cheka in their corner, they were sure to gain the support of the entire finance committee. Well, not the Banking Clan, they were making money hand over fist in this war, but surely the rest of them.

But T’cheka wasn’t done. “An entire battalion lost in one engagement. These Jedi have no idea how to manage this war!”

Padmé shot Bail another look, this one a bit more alarmed. “I-I’m sure they’re doing their best.” Ani had complained that most Jedi had neither the temperament nor the training to command troops, but that was beside the point.

“Their best,” T’cheka scoffed. Ze tossed the datapad aside with a contemptuous flick. “This is why we need a professional officer corps.”

Bail shook his head. “Surely you can’t want to drag more real people into this conflict?”

Padmé winced at his phrasing. From what Ani said, the clones were plenty real, but they weren’t citizens and they didn’t have families. Society lost nothing by their deaths except the money invested. “The economy would collapse if workers were pressed into service.” She held up the datapad. “This is why we need to begin negotiations for peace.”

“And risk losing access to the resources of the Outer Rim? No.” T’cheka shook zer head. “We must do everything we can to win this war.”


	47. Life in the Fast Lane

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Padmé didn't see the stop sign, took a turn for the worst.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for the iPod shuffle meme with the song "Life in the Fast Lane." Original post is [here](http://redrikki.tumblr.com/post/167122636549/for-the-music-prompts-please-do-anakinpadme).

Padmé engaged the hyperdrive and slumped in her seat. How had they gotten here? Even at fourteen, Padmé had known there was something wrong with the Republic. She just thought she could steer it back on course. Now, if it was a speeder, it would be flaming in a ditch.

She couldn’t save the Republic, but she would save her husband. Anakin had said he felt lost, well, Padmé was going to find him. The ship streaked towards Mustafar, but she wasn’t afraid. She knew he could be dangerous, but however fall Anakin had fallen, she would pull him up.


	48. Fake Married

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anakin and Yoda get fake married.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for the anoymous tumblr prompt Yoda & Anakin “Explain it to me again - why do we need to pretend to be married?” Original post is [here](http://redrikki.tumblr.com/post/168054663319/i-feel-just-the-teensiest-bad-for-asking-this).

“Explain it to me again - why do we need to pretend to be married?” 

Yoda glanced up at him with a dangerous twinkle in his eye. “Many marriage ceremonies, there are. Learn to identify them all, a Jedi must, to avoid accidental attachments.”

“Right,” Anakin said, tugging at the stiff collar of his Andoran bridal gown, “I know that.” After all, he’d sat through this demonstration as a padawan. “But why are _we_ getting married?” If he was being forced to participate, maybe he could play the groom and an actual female could be the bride. Or maybe, Yoda could be the groom and marry literally anyone else.

Of course, that was when the students started filing in. Instead of actually answering the question, Yoda just flashed him a mischievous little smile. Leave it to the old troll to have a practical joke at Anakin’s expense. He tugged at his collar again as Yoda greeted the class. The Andoran wedding ceremony ended with a kiss and Anakin was already feeling a bit nauseous.


	49. Stalling Tactics

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anakin wants to leave and Obi-Wan knows better than to try to talk him out of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for the anonymous tumblr prompt "What do you mean _leaving_?" Original post is [here](http://redrikki.tumblr.com/post/168079359559/22-anakin-it-was-too-tempting).

“What do you mean _leaving_?” Obi-Wan asked more sharply than he intended. He recalled the senator tumbling from the transport Genonsis and Anakin, frantic to rescue her, shouting _I don’t care_ when Obi-Wan threatened expulsion from the Order with a sinking feeling. “This isn’t about Senator Amidala is it? You know that’s never going to happen.”

Anakin flushed. “It’s not about Padmé,” he snapped. “It’s about my mother!”

“Your mother,” Obi-Wan repeated slowly as he tried to puzzle it out. Back when he was younger, Anakin had talked of returning to Tatooine to free his mother, but it was now something of a moot point. “Forgive me, I thought your mother was dead.”

“She is! That’s my point. I became a Jedi to free slaves, but the Jedi don’t care about them. The Force warned me my mom was in danger, but _you_ said I had more important things to worry about.”

Obi-Wan watched in horror as Anakin began to tear up. If he’d realized her death would upset Anakin this much, he never would have urged Anakin to ignore the nightmares.

“I wanted to help people,” Anakin said, his voice breaking, “but we never help the ones who need it.”

Half-a-dozen arguments sat on the tip of Obi-Wan’s tongue. Duty. The Republic. The war. The dangers of Force Sensitives setting their own agendas. It was obvious none of them would penetrate the miasma of grief and anger which surrounded Anakin like a fog.

“I understand what you’re saying,” Obi-Wan said as gently as he could, “but you shouldn’t make decisions like this when you’re upset. Wait until after you’re knighted.” That should give Obi-Wan plenty of time to come up with something, not to mention confirm his own rank as Master. “It shouldn’t be more than a few weeks. I promise to support whatever decision you reach then.”

“Really?” Anakin asked, hope and suspicion warring in his voice.

“Really,” Obi-Wan lied and began to plot.


	50. Stepping Down

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Depa and Mace discuss Jedi politics.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for the anonymous tumblr prompt Mace, Depa, and "what do you mean leaving?" Original post is [here](http://redrikki.tumblr.com/post/168117579149/hello-would-you-be-interested-in-writing-about).

“What do you mean _leaving_?” Depa’s voice rose in alarm. Mace broke the news to her over their weekly tea and he could have phrased it better.

“Better to say ‘stepping down.’ As Grandmaster, not from the Council.”

“Ah.” Depa’s shoulders slumped with relief. She calmly returned to her tea. “I assume Master Yoda will be taking over for you.”

Mace nodded. “We felt the Jedi needed a leader who could maintain the Order’s character and position in this trying time.” Frankly, it was a relief not to have to deal with politicians on top of managing the war.

Depa, on the other hand, was frowning. 

“You disapprove?”

“Better to say I have concerns.”

“Oh?” Mace sipped his tea.

“How did Master Dyas commission his clone army? How are we just finding out about them now? Why have we not informed the Senate of the mystery? I could go on.”

Mace nodded. She hadn’t said anything he hadn’t thought himself. “We will be investigating the the first two points as time and the war allow.”  
“And the last one?”

Mace hesitated. If he had his way, the Senate would already know. “Thanks to Dooku, there are those in the Republic who already question our loyalty. Master Yoda felt it best not to give them cause to question our competence.”

Depa narrowed her eyes. “And what do you think?” 

Mace sighed. His padawan could always see through him. “What I think doesn't matter. Now, more than ever, the Council needs to present a united front.”

“Must we?” Depa leaned eagerly forward. “I don’t just have concerns, I have _doubts_ and I’m sure others do too. Maybe an open debate would--”

“No!” Dooku’s doubts had landed them in this mess. They couldn't afford to open the door to more. “Yoda is the oldest and wisest among us. We must trust in him as we trust in the Force.”

Yoda and the Force had long been the dual pillars of the Order. Mace hoped they would dispel Depa’s doubt. He wished they were enough to dispel his own.


	51. What was that for?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shmi and Obi-Wan have it out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for the anonymous tumblr prompt Obi-Wan, Shmi, and "ow! what was that for?" Original post is [here](http://redrikki.tumblr.com/post/168186257759/please-do-16-obi-wan-and-shmi).

“Ow! What was that for?” Obi-Wan glared up at his assailant. Who did she think she was, attacking a Jedi?

“I entrusted him to you!” She roared, winding up to switch him again.

Obi-Wan managed to raise his hand in time to shield his face, but the make-shift whip left a burning line of pain down his arm. “Who are you?” he demanded, even as he scuttled away. There was something strangely familiar about her although he’d never seen her before.

“My son knew right from wrong when he left me! What did you do to him?”

Her son. Anakin. _Shmi_. Both her sons had described her as the soul of kindness, but now she was wrath personified. Her brown eyes were as wild as her son’s had been on Mustafar. Obi-Wan let his arm fall. He’d let Anakin fall. He’d let Anakin burn. He had no defense.

Shmi raised her arm again and again. “You!” THWAK “Ruined!” THWAK “My!” THWAK “Son!”

Obi-Wan caught each blow full in the face. The switch cut his eyebrow and sent a thin trickle of blood running down his face like tears. “I’m sorry,” he whispered.

“You should be.” Shmi shoved him hard, knocking him down into wakefulness.

Obi-Wan sat up and rubbed at the sand-encrusted tears which still dripped down his face. He gripped the tombstone and used it to haul himself to his feet. “I’m sorry,” he said again. Sorry for Anakin. Sorry for the dream. Sorry for everything.

The first sun was just peaking up over the horizon and the air was still almost painfully chilly. It was amazing he’d survived the night. The cold and guilt should have finished him off. Once again the Force had spared him. Obi-Wan tried to be grateful.


	52. Most Impressive

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Padme stands her ground and Anakin is impressed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for the anonymous tumblr prompt Anakin, Padme, and "Well that was the single most impressive thing I've ever seen someone do." Original post is [here](http://redrikki.tumblr.com/post/168255736219/for-the-dialog-prompts-ahsoka-and-padme-13).

“Well, that’s the single most impressive thing I’ve ever seen someone do.”

Padmé looked sharply at her husband, but she couldn’t detect an ounce of sarcasm in Anakin’s earnest and adoring face. “You have surprisingly low standards,” she said tartly.

Anakin shook his head. “You don’t understand. I’ve _never_ seen anyone successfully stand up to Yoda.”

“Well someone aught to.” Padmé sniffed disdainfully. She didn’t care if Yoda had been conning and intimidating families for 800 years or 8,000. The Order’s promises of education and honor and threats of danger may work on the ignorant, the desperate, and the poor, but Padmé knew better. _She_ wasn’t handing over her children to the organization that cast Ahsoka aside and treated their members like interchangeable weapons.

“They’ll be back,” Anakin warned as he shifted Leia higher on his shoulder. Yoda’s visit had upset her, or possibly him. She’d stopped crying, but he seemed reluctant to put her down. “Luke and Leia are too powerful to be left unsupervised.”

"Unsupervised?!” Preposterous. Either Anakin or C-3PO had been with the twins every minute since they were born and it wasn’t like Padmé had been shirking her motherly duties either. What more did the Council want? What sort of trouble did they even think the twins were capable of at their age? Urinating on a diplomat? Spitting up on the Chancellor?

Anakin’s mouth twisted in a bitter line. “They’re too powerful to be raised by a screw-up like me. Who knows what dangerous ideas I’ll put in their head?”

“They should be more worried about what _I’ll_ put there.” Padmé stalked to the crib. Her anger left her as she studied her sleeping son’s face and was replaced by fear. “You really think they’ll try again?”

Strictly speaking, the Jedi didn’t need the parents’ permission if they acquired a child through dangerous exigent circumstances. Once they did, said child was virtually impossible to get back. If the Jedi were truly desperate to acquire the twins, how hard would it be to manufacture something to rescue them from?

“I do. They will.”

Padmé nodded sharply. That settled it then. She would speak to Chancellor Organa tomorrow about changing a few things. Bail would back her play. She was going to do what it took to keep her children and Anakin could be even more impressed then.


	53. She Packed Her Hopes and Dreams

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shmi passes on her hopes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for anonymous tumblr prompt Shmi, Anakin, and "Run!" Original post is [here](http://redrikki.tumblr.com/post/168291132479/for-the-first-sentence-prompt-can-you-do-anakin).

_Run_ , Shmi wanted to shout. _Go! What are you waiting for?_

The Jedi was getting impatient. If Anakin didn’t leave with him now, he’d be stuck as a slave on Tatooine forever. “I can’t do it, Mom,” Anakin said with tears in his eyes. “I just can’t.”

Oh, Anakin. He knew what was at stake here. The Jedi was his chance to be free, to see the stars, and maybe even change the galaxy. He had dreamed of these things all his life, but now he would pass them up for her. How many other sons would set aside their dreams for their mothers? What kind of mother would she be if she let him?

Shmi had dreams once, less grand than her son’s, but seemingly just as unattainable. Freedom, a family that could not be taken or sold, and a living she built with her own two hands. She gave those dreams to her son now, packed them up, and imparted them with a final kiss.

“Go now, be brave, and don’t look back.” Shmi turned her boy around and set him loose into the galaxy. _Be free and see the stars_ , she thought, _but live my dreams too._

Shmi watched her hopes walk away that day. It was a surprise, two years, when she got everything she’d ever yearned for. She hoped somewhere out there, Anakin did too.

**Author's Note:**

> Want to give me a prompt? Leave one on my tumblr at [redrikki.tumblr.com](http://redrikki.tumblr.com). I may even get to it eventually.


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